Forever
by KathyFish
Summary: Jack Harkness has lived a long and hard life and he's decided that it's time for him to get what he wants. What is it that he wants? Well that would be one Gwen Cooper.
1. Prologue

Gwen Cooper's life had changed so many ways since she'd joined Torchwood. She'd been opened up to the impossibilities of the world and found that the universe was a far and vast place indeed. Before, she had often wondered what her life would have been like if she'd just let it go after that first meeting. How she would have lived the rest of her life without ever pursuing the case, without ever meeting Captain Jack Harkness.

Gwen was looking out the window just thinking about nothing really. All she'd wanted to do was calm the nerves. If someone had told her that she would be sitting down in this room, waiting to promise the rest of her existence to someone who wasn't Rhys Williams just a few months ago she wouldn't have believed them. Yet here she was.

A knock sounded at the door, and a blonde girl poked her head in.

"Hey Gwen, it's almost time. Are you ready?"

"Yea I'll be out in a second."


	2. The Hard Things Always Come First

"What's this?"

"That's an engagement ring that is."

"You're getting married?"

"Yes, Rhys asked. When you were away."

"And you said yes."

"Well no one else will have me."

He had come back for her. He had lived through the end of the world, and clawed his way back from it so he could return to her. But it wasn't enough. Not for her. He had lived so many lives, lost so many people and that was something that he knew she would never understand. There was only one other person in the universe who understood what it was like to watch everyone else live their lives, constantly moving forward and for you to be the only one stuck in one point, neither moving forward or having the chance to look back. She didn't understand he did this to protect himself. That he couldn't say what he wanted to because it would expose too much.

He'd been ready though. Ready to open himself up to her, ready to throw caution to the wind and let future take them wherever it wanted. It now seemed like a cruel joke that the very situation that had opened his eyes to what he really wanted was also the thing that had made him one step too late.

Jack had never had any reservations about sex. If the other party was up for, then so was he. The problem with this was that others would assume that his philosophies on sex were also how he felt about any sort of romantic relationship. It wasn't though, no matter how liberal his views were on whom he chose to bed his was a romantic at heart, he believed in true love and he believed that every person had someone that could complete them. Their other half. That had been why he'd never gone any farther than harmless flirting with one Rose Tyler, because though he could feel himself slowly falling in love with her, he knew it would never be able to hold a flame to what she'd had with the Doctor. It hadn't really worked out for him as he'd ended up hopelessly in love with the both of them, but at least he'd never interfered with what they had in a real way.

But now. Now he had found himself in almost the same situation, he was in love with a woman who had seemingly chosen another man. He had a respect for true love, and he didn't doubt that what Rhys felt for Gwen was true, but unlike the situation with Rose and the Doctor, he couldn't help feeling that what he had with Gwen had the potential to be something so much bigger than what she would have with Rhys. Jack didn't know how he knew it, but he was sure that he and Gwen could be the stuff of legends.

Now all Jack needed to do was to convince Gwen of that. But first he had something else to do.

This was one of the harder things that he'd had to do in his very long life, but if he wanted to prove to Gwen that she should choose him, the he also had to do things that would make him worthy of being her choice. That didn't help the sting he felt with he was faced with that look of utter despair though.

"So what was I then? What was this to you? Because I love you Jack. I'd never thought that I'd be able to love again after Lisa, but you changed that! I didn't want to be this person; I didn't want to love you. But it was you who pursued me!"

"I know Ianto. I'm so so sorry for doing this to you. You have to believe me, when we started this I thought that we'd really have a chance, I didn't plan on this. I didn't plan on falling in love with her. But I have, and it wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't tell you now because I've decided that I'm going to act on my feelings."

"But what if she doesn't love you? You know she loves Rhys, she's always only had his best interests in mind. Everyone in the team can see that she cares more about him than she does herself."

"I know, but I think if you love someone. Really love someone to the core of your being, then you should be willing for them to be happy however they choose to live. And if in the end she chooses Rhys then that's fine with me, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I'd never even put myself in the running."

Ianto looked at the man he was slowly falling in love with and knew that he wouldn't be able to change Jack's mind. The funny thing about it was that he'd known it all along, he seen the way Jack looked at her, but Ianto had somehow told himself that they were feelings that Jack wouldn't act on because Gwen already had Rhys. He could tell how wrong he was now, as he saw the grim determination on Jack's face. It was that face that made him relent, and also feel sorry for Rhys, because as transparent as Jack's feelings for Gwen were, it was the same when it came to Gwen's feelings for Jack.

"If… just if it doesn't go the way you plan. Would you come back to me?"

He knew how pitiful and desperate it had sounded, but he just couldn't stop himself. Jack was worth losing a bit of his dignity. He hadn't known how Jack would respond, but he hadn't expected to suddenly be pulled into the most passionate kiss of his life.

Jack held Ianto's face in place and stared into Ianto's eyes and said in his fiercest voice, "Ianto Jones. You deserve so much better than me. You deserve everything in the world. I know how you see yourself, I know that you think you're nothing but the coffee boy, but let me tell you this right now. You are one of the most amazing men that I have ever met. Don't ever let me or anyone else put you in a position where you feel weak and without power. I love you. I really and truly do. In any other world we would have been great, amazing even, but not this one and I can't tell you how sorry I am for that. But you deserve someone who loves you with all their heart and right now right here? I'm not the man for you. I have no doubt that the person you're looking for is out there though, so don't waste your time on me, because I'm telling you that I'm not worth it."

With that, Jack walked away with his great coat flowing behind him. He didn't seem to notice that his speech had probably done more harm than good as Ianto looked at his back with a look that was somewhere in between shock and devotion.


	3. The Rose in River's Bed

River should have known that it would end up like this. It always did.

"Doctor you promised me skating on the St. Lawrence during the _Carnaval_ de Québec."

"That I did River, and I promise that we will… once I figure out what's got the TARDIS up and running again. You know her, always in one or another of her moods these days; don't really know what's going on with her really. But the moment I find what's wrong with her and fix it then we'll be on our way to the great north! Maybe we'll ride a moose! Or make maple syrup!"

"Sweetie… you do realize that neither of those things is even remotely interesting don't you?"

The Doctor though was already on the other side of the control panel fiddling with something when all of a sudden he shouted in a completely exasperated voice, "REALLY? Now you're just playing with me aren't you? I thought we were friends!"

"What's wrong Doctor?"

"It's the TARDIS, she's gone and fitted herself with screws. Screw's made of wood! She's obviously doing this on purpose, but she won't tell me what's wrong. I'll be back in a second, I need to go and see if I might have a regular screwdriver, but I'll tell you now that it's pretty unlikely. You hear that? It's unlikely I have a regular screwdriver, so you may have just gotten yourself stuck in the time vortex. Really…."

The Doctor was still mumbling as he left the control room heading through the many corridors of the TARDIS, presumably to find the tool room and hope that for whatever reason he had picked up a phillips head screwdriver somewhere along the way in his travels.

Once River was sure that the Doctor had gone far enough and wouldn't hear what she said she sat down in front of the console and stared into the screen.

"Alright then, out with it. What's really going on? I know that there's nothing wrong with you, so that means you're keeping us stuck here for a reason. The Doctor told me once that you told him that you didn't take him where he wanted and instead took him where he needed to be. So for some reason we need to be in the time vortex right now? Come on, you can tell me, in a way you are one of my mums."

The TARDIS decided to answer her the moment she stopped talking. Suddenly, the screen showed a message written in Gallifreyan, "We need your help, please answer".

For a moment, River couldn't do much more than stare at the message in shock. The fact that the message was written in Gallifreyan was already enough to be confusing, but the fact that it was written in _old_ Gallifreyan? As far as River knew there were only two people in the universe that could still read and write in old Gallifreyan, and they were both currently aboard the TARDIS. She tried to think about who could possibly be able to send this message but couldn't think of a single being who would have been able to send the message. She must have been standing there for longer than she'd thought because the TARDIS did something that sounded like impatient exasperation, she'd gotten the message though, the TARDIS was saying something along the lines of, "Oh you daft woman, just answer it already!"

She'd thought that there was no one in the universe that could've sent that message and she had been right. River had pressed the accept option on the screen she didn't know what to think about what she was staring at. She had recognized the woman instantly but couldn't for the life of her think of a reason for her to be making contact. Frankly River was quite sure that the other woman shouldn't even know of her existence, but River knew her quite well. You could almost say that River liked to think that she knew the woman on the screen as well as she knew most people.

It wasn't at all what she had expected, but somehow it was the only answer that made sense and River felt like she had known who would be on the other side of the call the moment it came through, she just hadn't wanted to admit it. Recognizing the person on the other side of the screen would almost be the same as accepting that no matter how much time she'd spent with the doctor, no matter the fact that they were married and she was sure that he loved her; she would never be able to completely own both of his hearts. For all her bravado and belief in the fact that she loved the doctor more than anything else, she always knew that if somehow the woman on the other side of the screen decided that she'd wanted the Doctor back and found a way back to him… River knew that the Doctor probably wouldn't even spare River a glance before running into the other woman's arms. The other woman's existence was occasionally quite a literal thorn in her side.

It was then that the panic and the fear started settling in. River knew that the other woman probably wasn't sending this message to steal the Doctor away from her. If the other woman had found a way back, she wouldn't be sending a message. The fear was from the fact that the last time the woman had come to this universe the stars had been going out and it could quite literally have been the end of the universe. River decided that whatever news the woman was bringing, she would take it in stride.

She would not back down from this woman. She would be strong. She took a deep breath.

"Hello Rose Tyler."

Rose looked into the screen and was completely and utterly confused. She'd had to check the readings on her own TARDIS to make sure that she'd sent the message to the right place. Then the woman had greeted her, 'Hello Rose Tyler' she'd said. She didn't quite know what to think so she'd crossed to the other side of the console and grabbed the Doctor by the sleeve.

"I'd thought you said it was impossible for you to regenerate into a woman."

"Now Rose, I'd never said it was impossible, just simply highly unlikely. It's his decision, but in all of my previous selves I'd never felt the want to be a woman. Who knows maybe the regeneration after me had decided it was time for a change."

"So that's you then? That cheeky blonde woman with the sultry voice? That's the Doctor of the future?"

"Wait did you just say- " the Doctor was off before he even finished his sentence turning the screen around to face him.

"River Song! I thought it might be you once Rose mentioned a cheeky blonde woman."

River looked at the man who she presumed to be the Doctor, or at least the human metacrisis version of the Doctor. Rose's Doctor.

"So tell me River, have you had the delightful experience of meeting me yet? Just so we can get our timelines straight, don't want any spoilers do we?" the Doctor said with a wink.

"If you mean you as in the Doctor, then yes I've met him. How else could I be on the TARDIS if I hadn't? But if you mean have I met your specific regeneration? Then the answer to that would be no. I'm still with the Doctor of my original timeline. My first Doctor."

"Good, that means we didn't mess up when we were calculating where in time to send the call to. It's also a very good thing that you were the one to pick up River. We'd originally had Rose be the one to make the call because we'd thought that no matter how many regenerations had gone by he'd be more likely to listen to her than he would me, but now that we have you I'll be able to explain the plan myself."

"The plan?"

"Oh yes River, we need you to do something for us. Just a tiny little favour really."


End file.
